Saudi prepares regulation to allow women to drive

Saudi Arabia’s Directorate General of Traffic will soon announce rules and regulations to allow women to drive in the kingdom, according to reports.

Saudi Gazette reports a meeting held by the Traffic Department last week saw proposals presented by government officials to facilitate King Salman’s decree to allow women to drive from June 24 next year.

Read: Saudi women to be allowed to drive from age 18

Among the topics of discussion were preparations to provide driving lessons to women, including a new website offering information on driving techniques, vehicle parts and traffic regulation.

Lectures on regulations and the basic principles of driving are also planned by some driving schools.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s Princess Nourah Bin Abdulrahman University

In order to obtain a licence women will be required to attend driving schools, but some are said to have already purchased cars.

More than 80 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s female population plans to drive, according to a survey released earlier this month.

There are around 14.8 million women in the kingdom.

Read: Study reveals 82% of Saudi women plan to drive

The decision is expected to have repercussions for taxis, driving services like Uber and drivers hired by families.

The Saudi Economic Association said the kingdom could save SAR20bn ($5.33bn) by allowing women to drive.

This was assuming half of the kingdom’s 1.38 million expatriate drivers employed by families to transport women and children would be no longer needed.

Read: Saudi could save $5.3bn by allowing women to drive

Prior to the decree at the end of the last month Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women from driving.